Minsk: A Time to Remember
by Jon the Great
Summary: Battlefield 2142 fanfiction.The story is a first person narrative of a bloody war that took place in Minsk, 2142 AD. Follow Private Jonathan Stietz throughout bootcamp and the war that will change him forever.


I was eighteen years old when I got the letter from the military. It was a notice of my recruitment. I had been drafted into a war I had no knowledge of, a war I had no desire to fight. I had just gotten out on my own and was living in a shabby apartment in downtown London. As I sat on my sofa, the mail materialized on my counter. The single white envelope was addressed to "Private Jonathan Stietz," which was already a bad omen. I tentatively sliced open the letter and its contents spilled out onto my counter. Here's a brief quote taken directly from the letter.

"Private Stietz,

As a result of the lack of military personnel, you have been drafted into recruitment by the European Union. You must arrive at the military base in Minsk which is located in Western Asia by 8:00 sharp Monday morning. If you need more information, please feel free to contact me by videograph at 768.245.E. My name is Gunnery Sergeant Mike Rowlsky."

Two days later, I arrived at Minsk. I made my way through endless rows of uniformed soldiers, armed to the teeth with high tech military equipment. My small hike ended at a recruitment tent to the far north of the city. A small crowd was already forming outside the tent and I could see the many disgruntled faces of those who were also drafted. I felt out of place as I wandered around like a child lost among many adults. Suddenly, as if God had seen my dilemma, a hand slapped me on the back of my shoulder.

"Jonny! Man, long time no see!"

It was my old friend, Jimmy Harling. We had gone our separate ways right after high school and hadn't spoken for a while. He was a good man and had been a great friend throughout my childhood. I was happy that we could once again live through another chapter of our lives together.

"Holy cow, I haven't seen you for almost a year!" I replied excitedly.

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy with the wife and all. Then out of nowhere I get dragged into this war. I guess I get to do my part for my country like my brother. I'm guessing you got the letter too?"

"Uh-huh, there's no way in hell I would've signed up out of my free will. Anyways, it's good to see you again, Jimmy."

We talked about what we had done for the past year until we made our way to the end of the line. It was a good thing Jimmy and I had gotten there together, because we were both assigned to Echo squad. We met the other four members during boot camp which was held on base at Minsk, and for the next month we learned about weapons, military intel and operations, and wars long past. We trained 8 or more hours a day and for the rest we were educated on all aspects of the military. In the mirror I could see myself changing every day. My body became reinforced with muscle after many strenuous training regimens. I could run far and fast, I could jump high and my mind became sharp as my military-issued chromium-tipped knife. When I was at the peak of my strength and skill, boot camp ended and the commander told us that Echo squad would ship out to Verdun for active duty on Friday of next week.

In our free time, Jimmy and I would fly around Minsk and the surrounding area with a spare hovercarrier. The blur of the clouds and sky speeding past the windows instilled me with a sense of awe I had never felt. The serene beauty of the skies filled me with hope and a feeling of peacefulness. We usually sat in silence, taking in the amazing views of the world around us. On Tuesday, Jimmy finally emerged from the quiet emptiness of our surroundings.

"Hey Jon… you think we'll still be around in a month?"

"Oh c'mon Jimmy, of course we will. If me and you stick together, we can take on anything. You just can't let those kinda thoughts bother you out here."

"I know, but it's just been botherin' me for a while. I don't know if I'll be ready to… you know… risk my life if the time comes."

"Well, if you're feelin' scared about this kind of stuff, you should probably ask for help from the big guns up above, if you know what I mean."

"You mean God?"

"Yeah."

"I… I don't know if I believe in God anymore…"

I looked deep into his blue eyes and saw a stream of tears roll down onto his face. His sniffling face took on the look of sheer hopelessness. He didn't have anything to believe in, and I think that scared him more than anything. He only had one shot in this life, and if he dies out here, that's it. I couldn't blame him for how he felt, but I knew in my heart that unlike him, I knew where I would be when I died.

"Holy crap Jon, what in hell's name is that!?"

I quickly yanked on the joystick in front of me, flipping our hovercarrier higher into the air. Emerging from the foggy clouds, like a mountain, hovered a gargantuan mass of metal and plasma, gliding through the air like some kind of giant bird. It was the one thing that could instill the most fear into even the largest battalion of soldier.

"Is that… is that a titan!?"

"I'm afraid it is, Jimmy. I'm afraid it is."

Through the clouds came a beam of burning orange light, spiraling directly towards our ship. We had been spotted! Jamming my foot down on the pedal, our ship hovered quickly into the air, narrowly avoiding the laser blasts. Another series of blasts came towards the ship, nearly clipping the bottom of the hull. I quickly turned the hovercarrier around and hovered at a blazingly fast speed back towards Minsk. The lives of thousands of soldiers were at stake in this grueling race towards the military base. If we were shot down, the soldiers at Minsk would be unprepared for the bombardment of enemy troops from the titan, and the war could very easily be lost as a result. As I whipped between large skyscrapers and clouds, the orange beams of energy ricocheted under and over our hovering vehicle. As I concentrated on avoiding the towering masses of concrete in front of me, Jimmy guided me verbally on how to avoid the oncoming bullets of laser energy.

"SHIT! BAIL OUT, BAIL OUT!"

Jimmy's scream of sheer terror instantly made us jam our hands on the quick-release levers, ejecting us through the air in a flying metal pod. I squinted my eyes through the force of the wind to witness our hovercarrier combust in a fiery ball of twisted shrapnel and fire as was shot into a nearby building with the force of a nuclear bomb. The building exploded from the inside and fell to the ground in an earth-shattering thud as it plowed through trees and other towering skyscrapers. We twirled through the air and landed just inside the vicinity of the commander's tent. The commander and several other wide-eyed officers sprinted outside to see what had just exploded in front of their quarters.

"What in hell's name is going on here, Private!?"

"Sir…" I panted, "… an enemy titan shot down our hovercarrier, they're coming towards Minsk."

His wrinkled jaw dropped in an action of pure fear. Almost immediately afterwards, he regained his political-like posture and began spouting off orders to his Lieutenants and officers.

"I WANT EVERY GOD DAMNED SQUAD IN THIS BATTALION TO GEAR UP AND GET READY FOR THE FIGHT OF YOUR LIVES! I WANT ALL ANTI-AIRCRAFT AND ANTI-TANK TURRET POINTED TO THE EAST, WE GOT A TITAN COMING! YOU BETTER FIGHT WITH ALL YOU'VE GOT AND NOTHING LESS! THAT'S AN ORDER!!!"

Thousands of men scrambled to their barracks in an attempt to gear up and get ready for the long battle ahead of them. It was a near riotous atmosphere as pilots and infantry alike sprinted through the crowds to get to their posts. I found Echo squad in front of the tent, already geared up and standing at attention for their squad leader. Jimmy and I pulled on our uniforms and strapped as much of our gear onto us as we could. We pushed our way back through the crowd and found became reunited with our squad. Squad Leader Sgt. Morris gave us a quick pep talk and assigned us our orders.

"Okay squad, you heard the commander. This is gonna be one helluva fight today, and we're gonna have to give 'em all that we've got. Petruski, Johnson, and York, I want you guys to pilot an attack chopper and try to take down any aircraft before it gets near us. We got our titan on its way now, but we're gonna have to fight off the enemy's titan for a few days before ours can get here. Harling and Stietz, you'll be helping hold down the base with me on foot. We're gonna be taking on the infantry that makes its way in here, so you're gonna get to see some real action soon enough. Okay squad, fall out!"

Morris, Jimmy, and I camped out behind the missile silo in the middle of the military base. This silo was key to our victory, if the enemy took it, we would be unable to drop the shields of the ship, and we would all slowly be found and killed by the enemy troops. I became temporarily deaf as the roar of the tanks and the loud humming of the hovercrafts zoomed away into the horizon. We were left to basically fend for ourselves. We sat there, talking about how scared we were and how unlikely it would be for us to make it out alive. This went out fo rnearly half a day. At nighttime, the real battle would begin.

Slowly but steadily, the loud sounds of explosions and gunshots came closer and closer to our base. It was nearly nine o'clock when I saw the first enemy hovercraft fly towards us in the purple sky of the night. The rotating barrels of the nearby anti-aircraft guns turned in a dazzling spin of fiery emissions, sending the flying vehicle into the ground in a blaze of fire. Another lone attack chopper lazily floated towards base. It landed at our helipad, and the three other members of Echo squad hopped out.

"Oh man, Sergeant, it's bad out there. Real bad," stuttered Cpl. York in a nervous daze.

"Well, I don't know what else you expected from a war. How we doin' out there?"

"Our whole air force is three quarters gone, sir. It's just us and 5 other choppers still flying. The tanks are on their way back, it'd be a massacre if they stayed there. The enemy forces will be here in a matter of hours. Even if we kill twenty of them for every one they kill of ours, we're still gonna be wiped clean off the map."

"Our titan won't be here till tomorrow, at the least. We've got to fight them off till then."

York was wrong; it was not a matter of hours before the enemies drew near. It was a matter of minutes. Shortly after our tanks got back, the translucent red shield of the enemy titan reared its ugly head through the clouds. Choppers by the dozens began swarming from the titan's bay, slowly drifting towards our establishment. The anti-air missiles and guns began their powerful bombardments of lead and shrapnel on the enemy fleets of attack choppers. One by one, the hovering vehicles would drop off to the ground in dazzling orange explosions. This went on for about a half hour, and then a disheartening shout pierced the air of the cold night.

"We're out of missiles!"

"We don't got anymore in supply!"

"Holy Jesus, are you friggin' kidding me!?"

We had barely made a dent in the enemy's powerful air force. We were going to have to dodge the thousands of missiles that the enemy's attack choppers were about to unleash upon us. We had no way of fighting them off. No way of preventing the many hovercarriers from dropping their loads of infantry on our small army of rookie soldiers. I peered through my visor at Jimmy's face. His mouth was contorted into a grimace of fear. Sgt. Morris was gritting his white teeth so fiercely that I feared they would snap to pieces right then and there. And then the missiles began.

As the long tubes of explosives began to rain down upon our infantry, I glanced around at those around me. On all the faces I saw, there was a look of pure agony and even an illusion of rage. We knew we were going to lose a lot of men. Each of us meekly looked around at one another, knowing that in a few moments, most of us would be nothing more than a smoking pile of crimson-stained limbs. No thoughts were running through my mind, only the instinct of survival. All I knew was to live. A deafening blast echoed through my head as a large chunk of metal hammered into the concrete to the left of me. I dazedly turned to see what had happened and saw the twisted form of an attack chopper smashed into the ground. The chopper had not yet exploded, but a small fire had started near the fuselage. I heard the panicked voice of my squadmate, Petruski, as he tried to pull himself and his fellow soldiers from the remains of the burning vehicle.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SOMEBODY HELP ME!!"

Before anyone could say a word, the chopper exploded with such force that I was knocked backwards into Jimmy and Sgt. Morris, shoving all three of us into the side of a tank. What used to be Petruski was now a bloody field of disembodied limbs and entrails spread over a distance of forty yards. The other men who were stuck in the chopper were now fused with the chunks of metal that flew through the air at, acting as powerful cannonballs to anyone who stood in their path. I pulled Jimmy to his feet as I wiped the blood from my visor and gun. I looked all around and saw the others who had suffered from the blast. A man next to the landing pad had a chunk of a wing sticking through the back of his chest, impaling him into the concrete of a nearby building. He stood there, still living, pinned to the wall in an awkward standing position. He slowly coughed his life away and left his human life behind.

I turned to Jimmy and saw he was shouting something at me, but I could hear nothing. There was a distant buzzing noise reverberating through the walls of my head that I could not drown out. I was deafened by the numerous shockwaves of sound that had been echoing through the camp. I felt no fear anymore as I pulled Sgt. Morris to his feet. I was relieved to see that he had walked away relatively unscathed. The missiles continued pounding into the vicinity around us, and body parts of unknown origins flew through the air in a storm of blood and entrails. As I slowly staggered over the fallen remains of my comrades, men grasped onto my feet and shouted un-hearable pleads and requests to me. Suddenly, like the swift end of a terrible rain, the missiles stopped. I fell to the ground in a daze and slowly, my hearing came back to me.

I was surrounded by a bleeding battalion of wounded soldiers. The men drowned in their own blood as they screamed babbles of incomprehensible cries for help. There was nothing I could do other than walk over the men and try to comfort them. Those that could walk stumbled around looking for their friends and their body parts. It was a sight of indescribable sadness that no man would be able to explain the magnitude of. I found Jimmy clutching the swollen hand of a fallen soldier. Large tears rolled down his cheeks, hitting the ground in quiet splashes.

"Jimmy…"

"He… he… he was my brother…"

The four words he spoke hit me with such tremendous emotional force, that I too fell to the ground and began to cry. I cried for what seemed like hours, I could have cried forever. It was within these twenty-four hours I had gone through all thirteen layers of hell and more. I no longer could believe in anything anymore. I felt like an empty shell of what I used to be. All around me, men were dying or already dead. What… what kind of God could allow his creation to so readily destroy eachother? Hundreds, even thousands of men's blood had been shed in a mere day, and many more were along the way. These men had families, people who loved and cared for them. How could I believe in something after witnessing the pure violence and hatred that had just occurred?

I could not cry much longer though, as the dreaded humming of the hovercarriers began emanating throughout the base. I picked up my weapon and grasped Jimmy's shoulder. He looked into my visor and knew what we had to do. Jimmy, Sgt. Morris, and I stood up above our fallen comrades, standing without fear in front of an undefeatable enemy. We weren't the only ones however; there were still others who remained throughout the area, ready to take on the swarm of enemies that were about to be thrown upon us.

The sound of a pressurized pod being shot through the air snapped me into action. We all stared into the sky as hundreds of pods rained down upon our diminished battalion of wounded soldiers. One by one, the soldiers hit the ground and stepped out of their small metal cylinders. I raised my gun to the air and released a fierce battlecry that pierced the ears of all the troops, rallying them for a great battle. Aiming my gun at an approaching enemy soldier, I squeezed off a round and watched him drop to the ground in a bloody spiral. Bright blue bullets shot through the skies as a war of man versus man took place in a gory battle of violence and death. Vast rivers of crimson flowed freely on the concrete, staining the fallen bodies of enemies and allies alike.

A scream several yards away from me snatched my attention from the brutality taking place in front of me. I turned and saw Sgt. Morris fall to the ground in an awkward heap. My heart jumped to my throat as I ran towards my squad leader and grasped his shaking hand.

"Dammit Stietz, they got me. I can't believe those sons of bitches got me."

"Don't talk like that, pal, I'm gonna get you out of this alive."

"Can it, Private. You know as well as I do I'm not gonna make it… they got me in the heart."

I moved the hand that was clenching his chest and a pint of blood gushed from the gaping wound it inhabited. I began sobbing loudly as he squeezed my hand and weakly told me goodbye. As his hand slowly relieved its grasp to my arm, he lost consciousness and died. A part of me died right there next to him that day.

Jimmy appeared at my side and helped me to my feet. I grabbed my gun and clenched it so tightly that I could feel my fingers cracking from the pressure. I was completely overwhelmed by a powerful rage of anger and bloodlust. I told Jimmy that we needed to avenge Sgt. Morris and all the other people whose lives those sons of bitches had taken today. He solemnly nodded his head as we lifted our weapons to our soldiers, taking aim at the enemies approaching. We stood back to back and shot clip after clip at the advancing enemies until our ammunition was no more. I no longer cared if I lived or died, for I had found a purpose to this war. And that purpose was to try my hardest to inflict as much pain as I could to those bastards who had taken my country's men away from their families. I would avenge my fallen friends and comrades, and I would do it proudly with all guns ablazin'.


End file.
